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Him indoors kept dropping hints for an Adamas semi-accustic , Blue  (to match his eyes!) for his Birthday. He has a Fender Tele, Classical and an accoustic.

I am a bit strapped for cash at the moment so he actualy got a cheeky card and a cutting from a yellow rose out of the allotment next to mine!

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

Nice Strat, Paul. Same colour as my first original 60s job, rosewood neck and all. Wish I still had it!

Bought an early 70s re-issue about 8 years ago. These days I'm down to an Echo jumbo, an original Hayman 1010 (which of course was used by Hank in the early 70s), a Les Paul Gibson and still trying to find the time (and money!) to rebuild a very rare beast indeed: a very early 60s Burns sunburst jazz guitar, similar to Gibson et al, semi-accoustic, double cutaway, twin humbuckers. It is not even listed on the Burns site! Needs a new neck and a re-chrome and will eventually be completely re-built and re-finished.

On books, I still have my late 1940s copy of Eric Kirshaw's "Chords for danceband guitar": great if you have thin hands with digits about five inches long! The inside shapes taught me lots, though

There does seem to be quite a lot of musicians in France!

 

[/quote]

 

Thanks and it plays like a dream . Back in the '60's my brother had a Burns Duo Sonic and I err managed to errmm snap the neck off it [:$] so he glued it back with Araldite and it was better than before I broke it LOL

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I tried to learn the guitar years ago but I have quite small hands [:(] I felt as though I was about to dislocate my wrist just to play a simple cord and  I ended up with deep grooves on on my finger tips too.

Did it get any easier?

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This will make all the guitarists here larf! And Beryl, too, I hope.

At school I played violin: the techniques (in terms of the left writs and the "Swanneck" arch of the wrist are not too dis-similar).

I bought my first guitar when I was fourteen: my cousin found it in a junk-antique type shop: that would be circa 1955 and unlike today, guitars were actually quite rare, particularly secondhand.

I purchased the de rigeure Weedon guide (although I seem to recall my first self-tutor was by someone like Chas McDevitt, repleate with some songs!).

Having struggled manfully, till my poor little digits were red raw, one evening an older chap, can't remember whom, came round, looked at my box and pronounced "Oh! No wonder you're having problems! This is an Hawaian guitar!" (For the non-guitarists, the strings sit miles above the frets and are stopped by use of a "Steel", which is a solid polished steel plate.).

After repairing, as we used to say, to the nearest friendly music shop of note, I purchased a new top nut (which is the bit at the end of the fingerboard the strings sit on) glued it in and voila! Chords!

At last I could actually stop the strings!

I still find it funny, all these years later on.

 

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Paul:

Like the Burns story! Were you copying Pete Townshend?[:D]

I had a Vibrasonic too, brand new. Sold that to a work colleague and bought a used decent Alto sax in Shaftesbury Avenue. Good old days.

By the way: what do you think of the sound of your Strat?

Personally, I can honestly find little if any difference between my early 70s re-issue and the original 60s job I had, which was obviously a real US made Dr Fender job.

 

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[quote user="beryl"]

I tried to learn the guitar years ago but I have quite small hands [:(] I felt as though I was about to dislocate my wrist just to play a simple cord and  I ended up with deep grooves on on my finger tips too.

Did it get any easier?

[/quote]

I know if Mark leaves playing for a while his fingers are virtually bleeding, when he goes back to it.  You have to stick with it until your fingers are covered with calluses & rock hard.  Is it worth it, I ask?!!  Think I'll stick to the piano!!

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My guitar teacher used to tell me that unless he could remove a sliver

of my finger tip using a stanley knife without pain (or blood)...then I

hadn't been practicing enough!!!  He was such a slave

driver!!!!  Fotunately he never actually tried it - but the

prospect of it certainly focussed the mind!

Kathie

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This reminds me of one of the discussions we were having on that other forum a week or two back before we all got banned. I recall it centred around Dylan and the Springsteen sessions which were being shown on BBCi at the time. As a result of that, and Miki's recommendation, I got the Seeger Sessions CD - had never been that impressed by 'the boss' before, but it's one of the best CDs I've got in ages.

Somebody mentioned Chas McDevitt. He was one of Lonnie's skiffle contemporaries of course, duetting with Shirley Douglas and Nancy Whiskey. Though I remember Mr Donegan as a banjo player with Chris Barber.

Gluestick - your Burns semi sounds like a near relation of my 1967 Burns-Baldwin bass, though mine is red. Allegedly used by Kirsty McColl's bassist before I got hold of it. I've seen a matching 12-string, and understand they made 6-strings too, in a variety of finishes including sunburst. Apparently it was a marriage, by Baldwin after they bought Burns in the 1960s, between an Italian-made body, used by various makers' Gibson ES335 copies, and the patent Burns neck.

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Will:

'Twas me that mentioned Chas: Freight Train springs to mind, in which Chas dueted with Nancy Whiskey. I still like that celebrated finger picking riff...................

Many thanks for that info re Burns. I will do some more research. Yes, it is very much like the Gibson. Didn't Joe Brown use a Gibson semi-accoustic?

One of my heroes, Mr Brown. Has one of George Formby's ukele banjos. Another star now forgotten.

My late father had a number of George's 78s: my late mother reckoned they were "Vulgar".

I still like the words to Mr Wu and the double entendre concerning ladies' blouses![:D]

Turned out nice, again.

I say it again: there seems to be a lot of musicians on this forum!

 

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[quote user="beryl"]

I tried to learn the guitar years ago but I have quite small hands [:(] I felt as though I was about to dislocate my wrist just to play a simple cord and  I ended up with deep grooves on on my finger tips too.

Did it get any easier?

[/quote]

 

Yes!!! LOL Once you get through the pain barrier [:'(]  I've  done a small amount of guitar teching and one of the lads kept saying I can't do this it hurts too much(esp barre chords, the wrist thing) I have always siad unless your playing until your fingers bleed you ain't practicing enough[:-))] Most people get a guitar and pick it up once a week for a few minutes and wonder why they can't play like Eric Clapton. I got to the stage where if I stayed in the bath too long my fingertips developed craters on the end where I had worn holes in the callouses and I could stick pins in them and not even notice [;-)]You really do have to stick with it every day until you physically can't do any more IMHO, like most things in life it's about dedication and commitment if you really want to learn you have to suffer for your art [;-)]

 

Small hands hmmmmm mine aren't exactly big and a mate of mine on the folk circuit has small chubby hands and plays Scott Joplin rags on an old Harmony acoustic like you wouldn't believe, yes nice long fingers make it that much easier but again it's practice, practice and more practice [;-)]You can do it, a guy on a car forum I used said he has incredibly long fingers and he thought that was making it difficult to learn [8-)]

 

 

Glue love the Hawaiian guitar thing, reminds me of my first guitar but that was just an incredibly high action along with heavy gauge tapewound strings = OUCH!!! [:'(] My brothers Burns incident came about because I left it leaning against the coffee table and it slid [:$] boing!!!

The  Strat sounds ace, very powerful compared to my 60's re-issue and a System 1 Jap Strat I had a few years ago[:D]

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All this talk about hurting fingertips reminds me that when I pick up my big jumbo (Echo with Gibson Sonomatic strings), it is tough to fret for a bit, after the Strat or the Les Paul or especially the Hayman 1010, since this was carefully rebuilt by a local guitar doc some years ago and has the lowest action ever.

 

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One of my heroes, Mr Brown. Has one of George Formby's ukele banjos. Another star now forgotten. (Gluestick)

No, Gluestick, Joe Brown is still touring (in England at least) some friends of ours go to his gigs every time he is in the S.W. - about once a year.  Usually with Marty Wilde on the same bill !  They say he looks and sounds just the same !

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[quote user="Miki"]At George Harrison's memorial concert dear old Joe played the last number on a little ukelele, very moving.



[/quote]

 

Aye he did indeed and it was [:)]

 

Joe's daughter Sam is one of my favourite singers, she has just never recieved the recognition she deserves IMO [;-)]

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I am really delighted that Joe is still gigging. Many thanks for the info people.

I last saw him in about 1976: he played a local gig with his late wife Anne, not long before she so sadly passed away.

To my mind, one of the great British musicians and guitarists (and banjo and uke too ) from the early days in the fifties: and of course, his comeback in the mid-sixties era .

With various bands, we often used Joe's numbers like "Dad's gorn dahn the dogtrack.................." as part of our repertoire; and "Enery the eigfth."

In my own mind, he ranks alongside such personal early idols as Mickey Green ( Johnny Kid and the Pirates).

Heh! This becoming a great thread! More reminiscences people  please!

For the guitarists amongst us, which early British performers do you rate (leaving aside the obvious like Knoffler and Clapton)? Mine would have to include Robin Trower, not only because I knew him quite well (another local lad) but because of his sheer musical talent. Again, not very well recognised.

 

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Ahhh! all of you guitar players and all others appreciating good taste in music!...

You have missed the most marvellous hour!...

Was cooking Sunday diner and daughter in other room had remotecontrolitis... defined as an affliction to flick, with the remote control, between channels on the box every 10 or so seconds!

She settled on some channel more than 15 seconds Heaven! whichever it was I don't know, some'it on the skychannels...

I was hearing Jimmy Hendrix playing 'All along the watchtower'

I shouted 'STOP!! don't flick anymore! just leave it alone!!!'

So stuff the Sunday dinner!...

I HAD to listen to absolute musical cream!...

Clash -You I stay or should I go

Queen - Bohemian Rapsody

Steppenwoolf - Born to be wild

Guns and Roses -That child of mine

Aerosmith - Living on the edge

Alice Cooper -School's out

Jefferson Airplane...

Nirvana...

and many others!

Turned out that the program was called '100 best air guitar anthems' !!

Shame I was never good at the airguitar more of the airdrum girl!

Daughter was booing saying these titles are so boring! they play them in clubs all the time!! to which I replied that no one is born yet to replace any of these tunes!! So you youngsters have to rely on what your parents were fed on! Shows that WE had/have more taste than you!

That got her in the kitchen to finish cooking the diner and I was served with a glass of wine and a plate of lovely roast beef with all the trimmings!! whilst I carried on drumming away to this musical cream!!
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Radio 4 next Friday, 11am there is a program where the reporter visits New Jersey to see if what he imagined from Springsteens songs is real - I guess there will be a few tracks played!

Hoddy, it was me who mentioned Johnny Kid, I knew someone who had worked with him, many many moons ago !

 

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[quote user="Gluestick"]

For the guitarists amongst us, which early British performers do you rate (leaving aside the obvious like Knoffler [+o(] and Clapton)? Mine would have to include Robin Trower, not only because I knew him quite well (another local lad) but because of his sheer musical talent. Again, not very well recognised.

[/quote]

From good old "Norn Iron" - Van Morrison (not known for his gutair playing - but - Mark's granny lives beside his granny & he used to play in a band with my uncle, as a kid!), Eric Bell, Gary Moore, Eric McCullough (Wings, for those who didn't know) & Vivian Campbell (from Def Leppard) to name but a few.

Never mind Avalon & Lowden guitars!!  [:D]  (Avalon factory is a mile down the road from our house - & we did a tour of it last year!!)

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[quote user="missyesbut"]Nirvana... and many others! !![/quote]

Just reading that post had reminded me. I heard what I thought was a spoof on the radio, but it turned out to be Paul Anka singing Nirvana in big band style. He has also given his special treatment to Wonderwall. They really are bad.

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